Who am I?
- Dylan Wrathall
- An individual, of no great importance, who is unable to see the natural world as a place for competition. I catch fish, watch birds, derive immense pleasure from simply looking at butterflies, moths, bumble-bees, etc - without the need for rules! I am Dylan and this is my blog - if my opinions offend? Don't bother logging on again - simple!
Sunday, 21 February 2016
Murder in the suburbs
It was getting on for 16.00 hrs, yesterday afternoon, and I was preparing to load the car with my gear for another session out on the marsh. Standing in the kitchen, talking with Bev, I spotted a commotion going on down by my aviary as a large female Sparrowhawk was dispatching a hapless victim. She then proceeded to devour her prize, perched on my flight - much to the amusement of my Canary and the total panic of the Java Sparrow flock. I quickly grabbed my camera and fitted my 1.4x converter to the 500mm lens and took a series of images through the window. ISO 1600 with 1/320th sec exposure - seems to have done the trick?
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Beautiful birds but a pain in the arse at times when you have an aviary flight as we do. I actually had one pull a canary through the wire netting.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you breed. I breed Gloster canaries and last year I was also successful with Goldfinch x Canary mules and a Siskin x Canary mule
Just Java Sparrows I'm afraid - easy and enjoyable none the less
DeleteNice opportunist shot there Dyl. I've come across Sparrowhawks at the 'kill' more than once. One of those occasions; as I spooked the Spa, the prey escaped. The Spa wasn't having that and swung around mid flight and recaptured the victim.
ReplyDeleteReminds me, on one of Gav's posts. He put up a picture which a non birder had taken of a big white bird eating a pigeon in their back garden? yes, it was one of those 'Common all garden' Gyr Falcons.
It no longer surprises me what turns up in people's gardens. I've seen photos of Honey Buzzards perched on picnic benches and Corncrakes in flower beds - both on Thanet! My own garden has a very enviable list of visitors (not sightings from) which includes Ortolan, Dartford Warbler, Tree Sparrow (those were the days?), both Redstarts, Waxwing and Woodcock. Yes; I'd love to see a Gyr - but I wouldn't swap my patch stuff for anything that required me to "twitch"! Maybe I'll have to be a little more adventurous in my choice of holiday destinations - then I can find my own. Now that would be sweet! Dyl
DeleteOrtolan in the garden! Get in there! I think the best bird through my garden was a Common Whitethroat.
ReplyDeleteOut birding today around my local patch. In the distance I spotted a solitary girl of around 20 years of age out birding too. However, by the time I regained consciousness, she had gone.